A 53: Allows evidence of a defendant's prior crimes or acts to be admissible in a criminal case for certain purposes including as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, state of mind of the defendant, state of mind of the victim or other party, absence of mistake or accident, identity, modus operandi, or common scheme or plan; requires that the prosecution provide reasonable notice of the general nature of any such evidence it intends to introduce at trial.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 53 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, DINOWITZ, BURDICK, RAGA, SIMON, GLICK, HEVESI, SHIMSKY, SANTABARBARA, ROSENTHAL, SEAWRIGHT, CONRAD, KIM, COLTON, LEE, PHEFFER AMATO, SIMONE, EACHUS, ZACCARO, LEVENBERG, McDO- NOUGH, HUNTER, ROZIC, BARRETT, STIRPE, CLARK, BUTTENSCHON, STERN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to allowing evidence of a defendant's prior crimes or acts to be admissible in a criminal case for certain purposes The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The criminal procedure law is amended by adding a new 2 section 60.77 to read as follows: 3 § 60.77 Rules of evidence; admissibility of other crimes or acts. 4 1. In general, evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admis- 5 sible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in 6 conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, 7 such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, know- 8 ledge, state of mind of the defendant, state of mind of the victim or 9 other party, absence of mistake or accident, identity, modus operandi, 10 common scheme or plan, provided that the prosecution in a criminal case 11 shall provide reasonable notice in advance of trial, or during trial if 12 the court excuses pretrial notice on good cause shown, of the general 13 nature of any such evidence it intends to introduce at trial. 14 2. In a criminal case in which the defendant is accused of a sexual 15 offense, evidence of the defendant's commission of another offense or 16 offenses of sexual assault is admissible, and may be considered for its 17 bearing on any matter to which it is relevant. This rule shall not be 18 construed to limit the admission or consideration of evidence under any 19 other rule. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00322-01-5 
 A. 53 2 1 3. The court, in its discretion, may exclude evidence described in 2 this section if its probative value is outweighed by the probability 3 that its admission will create undue prejudice to the defendant. 4 4. For purposes of this section, "sexual offense" shall include an act 5 committed in any jurisdiction that involves conduct proscribed by any 6 section of article one hundred thirty of the penal law, or by section 7 230.34 or 230.34-a of the penal law, or an attempt or conspiracy to 8 engage in such an act. 9 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.